The Chinese capital has for many years suffered from serious air pollution. Primary sources of pollutants include exhaust emission from Beijing's more than five million motor vehicles, coal burning in neighbouring regions, dust storms from the north and local construction dust. A particularly severe smog engulfed the city for weeks in early 2013, elevating public awareness to unprecedented levels and prompting the government to roll out emergency measures.

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ENVIRONMENT

China to test new smog-busting drone to help clear polluted skies

New design of unmanned vehicle will spray chemicals that freeze floating particles, allowing them to fall to ground, developer says

A parafoil drone designed by the state-owned Aviation Industry Corporation of China conducts 'fog-clearing' operations in Ningbo. The firm says testing for a type of smog-fighting drone will begin soon. Photo: Nandu.com

Government agencies are to test a new design of aerial drone to see whether it might help tackle the air pollution that often blankets much of the mainland, state media reported.

The vehicle will spray chemicals that freeze pollutants, allowing them to fall to the ground.

The tests would be led by the China Meteorological Administration and carried out later this month at airports and ports, Xinhua said.

The drone has been developed by the Aviation Industry Corporation of China and has a paragliding wing, which allows it to carry three times more weight than the fixed-wing version, making it more efficient and cost-effective.

Premier Li Keqiang said in his speech at the National People's Congress in Beijing yesterday the government would "declare war" on pollution. It would focus, in part, on reducing PM2.5, the fine particles of pollutants thought to be most harmful to people's health.

The mainland has used aircraft and fixed-wing drones to spray chemicals to disperse smog for several years, but the developers claim the latest design is 90 per cent cheaper and more efficient to operate.

The manufacturer has already carried out about 100 hours of test flights, Ta Kung Pao reported.

The chief executive of the company, Ma Yongsheng, said the drone could carry 700kg of smog-clearing chemicals that could be used over a five-kilometre radius, the newspaper reported.

Ma said the drone was easy to control and land, making it suitable to use at airports and ports.

He also said the drone was cheaper to produce and maintain than other types of unmanned aerial vehicles.

The company said the technology also has applications in emergency rescue, disaster relief, aerial photography, surveying and seed-sowing.

Air pollution has eased in Beijing after the capital was shrouded in smog for much of last week.

The United States embassy, which has set up its own air-quality-monitoring system and regularly posts readings on a Twitter feed, said Beijing had a "moderate" PM2.5 reading of 82 micrograms per cubic metre at 9am.

The Beijing Municipal Environmental Monitoring Centre posted on its Sina Weibo account that the capital recorded a "good" PM2.5 reading of 10 micrograms to 31 micrograms per cubic metre at 7am.

The World Health Organisation recommends a PM2.5 standard of 25 micrograms per cubic metre over a 24-hour period, and 10 micrograms per cubic metre over a year.

Residents in Beijing and surrounding provinces voiced their anger on social media last week over the slow response of the authorities to the thick smog that covered much of the north.

People complained city governments were hesitant to enforce emergency measures to tackle air pollution, including limiting the number of cars on the roads.

Some wealthy residents in smog-hit cities are buying second homes in Sanya, on Hainan, which has some of the cleanest air of any metropolis on the mainland, according to a report by Bloomberg.

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as Aerial drone tested to fight air pollution

Sounds like a really inteligent plan, spray more chemicals into the already poluted air.

dunndavid Mar 7th 201412:02am

Kook pollution reduction technology from China, Chapter 4,392. Hey you lurking readers from the Chinese leadership, here's a hint: it might be a slightly better idea to focus on reducing pollution at the source where the problems are concentrated rather than reduce pollutants once they are already released. And here's another the number of OECD countries that spend any amount of time and effort on tackling air pollution once it is released into the atmosphere is zero. That's right, zip, zero nada.
But I guess that doesn't really matter because as always China has a better way, you skeptics out there just wait. ....and wait, ....and wait.

jsmlibrary1 Mar 6th 20149:51am

Akin to using a toothpick to staunch the blood flowing from a gaping, open wound. Heaven help the citizens when frozen pollutants are falling from the sky.

david.watkinson.507 Mar 7th 20147:56pm

"A parafoil drone designed by the state-owned Aviation Industry Corporation of China conducts 'fog-clearing' operations in Ningbo. The firm says testing for a type of smog-fighting drone will begin soon."If the drone will begin testing soon, how is there a photo of it conducting operations in Ningbo?

The mainland government is good enough for the mainlanders: as long as it appears we are doing something, that's all that matters....i.e. face is still good.

joyalsofi Mar 6th 20141:44pm

Clearing smog isn't the only thing drones are being used for in other nations. How long before the skies everywhere will be filled with lethal, surveillance drones?

joe.thepimpernel Mar 6th 20143:49am

That's hilarious.Of course when you control all the media, you can peddle any lie.Isn't that right, Barack?

geoff.caldwell.311 Mar 6th 20141:20am

Somebody call Al Gore. Can make a couple million of these things and scatter em around the globe to collect his terrible CO2 and then point em at the sun.
POOF, Climate Change over and no more need to keep sacrificing the poor on the altar of Climatology.